Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Anton Beckenbaueris a German former professional footballer and manager. Early in his playing career he was nicknamed Der Kaiserbecause of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the field, and also as his first name "Franz" is reminiscent of the Austrian emperors. He is widely regarded to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. A versatile player who started out as a midfielder, Beckenbauer made his name as a central defender. He is often...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth11 September 1945
CityMunich, Germany
CountryGermany
The Olympic stadium may have been built only in the early 1970s but it was clear for a long time it had no future. For many reasons it is not good enough for modern football and today's fans.
Sometimes, in the dressing room, I think I am in Hollywood,
For example, Michael Jordan earns $100million a year but continues to play basketball and remains a modest human being.
Germany needs to have a handicap, like in golf. They ought to start each match with two goals in advance to their opposition.
The Netherlands have great strikers... but they are only playing one. They are depriving themselves of their best qualities and shooting themselves in the foot.
What FC Bayern has become is thanks to Gerd Mueller.
At the World Cup and even now at the Confederations Cup, our security provisions will ensure the greatest level of protection possible for all those participating - both inside and outside the stadiums.
You know the Dutch, they're always a bit funny... some of them.
No one wanted to fall back behind so both teams wated for a mistake from the other.
You have to sometimes shoot from the second row, that's all football. So you have to be a bit more flexible.
If someone has the chance to be top scorer and you want to encourage him, then you give him the chance to be top scorer but it never happened. That's why I believe something is going on there.
He shouldn't have resigned over that game. It was not a bad performance; in fact it was quite a good one for England. I would not have resigned under those circumstances.
It would make me a lot happier if I could meet up again next year with as many friends as possible from all over the world who I've met during my career. That's where the great opportunity lies, for me personally, in our role as World Cup host.
We are the last remaining country to allow ourselves two breaks in the season. You just have to look at England, Italy and Spain, they play right through the season. We on the other hand take six weeks off in the winter until the end of January, and that is a luxury.